Mud Street Cafe – Eureka Springs, Arkansas

July 8, 2012

It would have been too….too… to shout, “Eureka!” in Eureka Springs, but I did consider it. Excuse me, can I move here today? I absolutely adored everything about this small spot in Northwest Arkansas…..well, except for the fact that I can’t actually move there.

But this isn’t a travel blog so I’ll just tell you about a wonderful little restaurant: Mud Street Café. Mud Street Café sits at the base of a hill of antique shops, art galleries, boutiques and restaurants. At the top of the hill is the most picturesque hotel I’ve just about ever seen. I wished we had had a chance to stay at the Crescent Hotel and Spa and do the ghost tour (they are supposed to be lots of fun).The entire town is a little paradise for shoppers, but we chose Mud Street Café because it’s one of the places to choose if you can’t visit all of them. First, to get there you descend a steep flight of stairs lined with numerous accolades for their food, coffee and dessert. I never would have thought that eating in a restaurant with no windows would be appealing, but it is. It feels cozy and unconventional. The bohemian atmosphere goes through the wait staff and décor. Wonderful hand painted chairs and dining tables pulled up to sofas are some of the seating options and the coffee bar has an assortment of flavors and syrups for diners to choose the exact combination for their palate.

Ken and I chose a French Dip sandwich with provolone to split. The roll was perfectly toasted and the tender roast beef was just the right amount of doneness. The accompanying au juis was freshly made—none of the powered stuff that many restaurants use. Served with chips, it was a perfect amount to split if one still wanted to leave room for dessert—which I did after seeing the assortment in the dessert case.

I asked the waitress (of course) which dessert was the best. She suggested the chocolate mousse cake with caramel bourbon sauce. Now Ken isn’t a fan of chocolate or cake so I thought I might get most of it, but he definitely ate his share of this dense, almost cheesecake like experience. Our waitress brought the caramel bourbon sauce on the side just in case one of us didn’t care for it. She could’ve brought a gallon of it to our table. I think I need to figure out how to make that stuff, because it was amazing.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas is quite a long way from Houston, but if the good Lord is willing, I’ll be eating at Mud Street Café again before too long.